


Rise of the Skywalkers

by AsleepattheWeil, ZoeXanthellae



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: "Skywalkers" is pluralised in the title for a reason, Badass Rey, Ben Solo Lives, Ben Solo Needs A Hug, Ben Solo deserves life, Character Death Fix, F/M, Fix-It, Force Ghosts, Give me my HEA, HEA, Happily Ever After, Headcanon, Jedi, M/M, One Shot, Redeemed Ben Solo, Rey deserves happiness, Reylo - Freeform, Reylo HEA, Short One Shot, Sorry JJ TROS is trash, TROS Fix, TRoS Spoilers, all the Force ghosts, because canon can bite me, canon is for suckers, heroines don't need to be single to be strong, non-canon compliant, skskskskskskksksksk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-22
Updated: 2019-12-22
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:34:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,962
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21908257
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AsleepattheWeil/pseuds/AsleepattheWeil, https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZoeXanthellae/pseuds/ZoeXanthellae
Summary: Picking up at the Battle of Exogol in TROS, this fic retells the finale of the Skywalker Saga by, you know, including Skywalkers. The main thing we changed was making it good.Also, #Reylo4Lyfe
Relationships: Poe Dameron & Finn, Poe Dameron/Finn, Rey & Ben Solo, Rey & Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 7
Kudos: 168





	Rise of the Skywalkers

She opens her eyes, but has no strength left in her body to move. For a moment, Rey questions whether or not she is paralyzed, but she casts the thought aside as irrelevant. She is one with the Force, and the Force is with her, that is all she needs to know. She thinks of Leia, would Leia have been strong enough when she was her age? If Leia had known that Palpatine was still out there somewhere, if she and Luke had sought him out the way Rey and Ben did, would they have fared any better? Palpatine, this monster, her grandfather, just ripped the Force dyad from their bodies, and dropped them carelessly to the ground as if they were nothing more than dolls he was done playing with. She knows now that it was Palpatine himself who first connected her and Ben through the Force, but it was through their own efforts that the dyad grew, that it was strengthened by their own connections to the Force, each time they reached through it, using it more and more, first to see each other, then to talk, then to touch. That dyad was a part of her, it was the manifestation of her and Ben’s love, of their history and relationship, and he took it from them. He had no right.

She hears Ben rising up next to her. ‘My God,’ she thinks, ‘if he is feeling what I am feeling, how does he have the strength, the will, to push his body back up and continue to fight?” She knew he was strong, but comparing what she sees in him right now to what she herself is feeling, she has never been more amazed by him than she is in this moment. She closes her eyes and tries to match his strength, but it is fleeting, for the next thing she hears is the horrifying shriek of the Emperor’s hideous laugh, and the sound of Ben as he flies past her, crashing into the ground and tumbling off of the cliff’s edge.

She opens her eyes again, but this time with a new strength. The ancient Jedi Masters probably won’t appreciate that it’s rage which fuels her new resolve, but then again, their way didn’t exactly get the job done the first time around with Palpatine, now did it. The Force is infinite, she knows this, she has read all of the texts, time and again. It connects trillions upon trillions of life forms, it has run through thousands of generations of warriors, who honed their minds, bodies, and souls to channel that neverending flow of life giving energy and use it to effect change on the physical world around them. Those who came before her were taken back into the Force when their stories ended, and they are a part of what she feels each and every time she reaches out to it herself. She takes a deep breath and exhales, and calls to them, now. If ever there was a time she could reach, here and now, this has to be it. “Be with me.” She says it again, “Be with me,” feeling the peace of her soul, the essence of her being travelling out on the words as they part through her lips, she can feel the sound travel up, into the stars, the heavens, she feels it dissipate, not dissolve, but spread out into its infinite form, and she feels it as it reaches as them, as it stops, and interacts with the part that remains of each and every one of them, and not just the Jedi, the Whills, and others, force-wielders from the past who danced in the light, and whose history has been lost but whose legacy never shall be. She feels them all, and then it happens, like an elastic cord pulled as far as it can stretch. Her words begin to come back to her. She can feel them moving back through the heavens, back towards Exegol, but they are not alone. She feels the strength of the force return to her, she feels it in every fiber of her being, her body is renewed, she’s never felt this much energy of the Force flow through her at once before. It is as if the levees have broken, and now its flowing though, pure and unbridled. Her body is vibrating, and now, it is her turn. She rises, to face the evil that threatens her world this day.

Staring at Palpatine, she has a strange sense of deja vu; she can feel the memories of hundreds of others who came before, who stared down this same man in their final living efforts. He’s firing off enough power to take on the entire Resistance fleet as if it were nothing, but he sees her, and now he turns that attention and power back towards her. She meets his eye, fueled by the power of all who came before her, she ignits her saber. Palpatine attacks with a massive current of force lightning, but Rey stands strong, using her saber as a wedge to cut though his attack and as a focus for the tidal wave of raw Force energy she feels crashing forward around her. Palpatine pushes harder, screaming at her, “I am all of the Sith!,” and for a moment it feels like it might be too much, not for her, but for her saber, it feel unstable like it might tear apart into a million little pieces, but then she remembers what Luke had told her before leaving Ahch To. She reaches back behind her and calls for Leia’s saber, igniting it, and adding it to her own. The effect is startling, and she no longer feels like she is pushing back against Palpatine’s assault, no, now it like she is cutting through. She steps forward, and immediately she sees it in his face, his entire expression changes, and he knows it, too. 

“And I,” she says, “Am all of the Jedi!” Palpatine cannot believe what is happening, never in his life has he faced an opponent capable of overcoming this type of power. Then suddenly he sees it, it had been there all along, but he wasn’t looking, and now he feels foolish for not having seen it sooner. Behind Rey, it’s all of them, every Jedi he ever struck down, and thousands more. His former apprentices, those he seduced, those he toyed with. They are all there, and they are all pushing behind her, they are part of the ocean, and now it’s as if each and every drop of water is willing itself forward, adding to the crush of the wave that is coming down upon him. Rey continues to move closer, and suddenly it’s too much, he feels the lightning flying back at him, hitting his face, blistering skin and muscle which he had only just regained. He feels his own Force lightning consuming him but it is too late, he can’t control the current of power pouring through his hands. He’s been pulled beneath the undertow, and he can feel the legacy of the Sith trying to reach out and take hold of the one that is destroying them, but it is only him, and like a snake swallowing its own tail, the circle gets smaller and smaller, and the noose around his neck gets tighter and tighter, until finally this thing has swallowed itself whole, and only nothingness remains.

The throne room goes silent, and as she sees the literal embodiment of many millenia worth of the dark side of the Force evaporate into non-existence, she drops her sabers, and falls to her knees. For a moment, she’d felt like a God, but human bodies are not meant to hold such power, and the cells in her body have literally burned out as a result. Her entire body collapses, and she is able to hold onto this world just long enough to see the Sith fleet of star destroyers above her crashing back into the surface of this planet in flames, as the Resistance, as her friends, fly victorious in clear skies.

The spirits of the Force stand guard and wait. They hold no vigil, though, as they know that this is not Rey’s time to join them. This is not the end of her story. From behind them, a hand reaches up from the depths below, digging his fingers into the rock. Ben Solo screaming in agony as he pulls his body up over the edge of the cliff. Since Palpatine ripped the dyad from him, he has felt disconnected from the Force; he can still sense it around him, but he just can’t seem to reach it. Catching himself on the rocks, climbing back up, willing himself back to Rey. This was not the work of a Jedi, just a man fueled by love, pushing his body to its absolute limits to make it back to the side of the woman who needs him. And then he sees her. “Noo!” He tries to get to his feet so he can run to where her body lies, but his right leg is broken, and he falls back to the ground in frustration and pain. He lifts himself again, and the sea of spirit part for him, his mother walks over and stands beside him, and though he doesn’t know it consciously, he feels her love and this time is able to stay on his feet as he limps over to where Rey has fallen. Ben collapses beside her, frantically picking up her body and pulling her up into his lap. Her head falls backwards lifelessly, and he can see in her staring eyes that the woman he loves isn’t in there anymore. He buries his head in her body, screaming and crying - it  _ can’t _ be. All that effort, everything it took to get back up over the cliff, to get back to her, it can’t have been for  _ nothing _ .

Then he feels it, the Force, like a blanket being draped over his shoulders. The sea of Jedi spirits who are there beside him begin to reach out again, making their presence known, and pushing the energy that flows around Ben back towards him, just close enough so he can reach it again, so he can make that connection once more. He knows what he must do, hell, it was mere hours ago when Rey herself showed him how to do it -hen she looked at him with eyes filled with love and compassion, and sat beside him using the Force to push her own life energy into him, healing the wound in the body of Ben Solo that was left behind from the blow that struck down Kylo Ren. He closes his eyes, and he can feel the Force moving through him, he focuses that energy onto her, and it’s startling. Where her body lies is a vacuum, completely exhausted of Force and life. He pours all that he can into it, but it isn’t enough, her eyes still stare blankly, her body refuses to reach back. There isn’t enough left in him for both of them, and he knows it, but he can’t stop. It’s much more difficult to channel the Force and the life energy out when it is all that is keeping you alive, but he finds the will to do it anyway, he pushes and he pushes and then finally… a breath. Her hand reaches up and covers his where it rests on her stomach, the most meaningful touch he’s ever felt. 

Rey opens her eyes and she sees him, her Ben, looking down at her. For a moment she doesn’t know if she is in an afterlife or still on Exegol, but she truly doesn’t care. She sits up, and feels the ground beneath her, remembering where they are and putting the pieces together of what just happened. She reaches out and touches his face, and he is real. He is real and he is here with her, finally they are together. “Ben,” she half-whispers, and he smiles back and she reaches out tentatively to touch his cheek, but she just can’t take it anymore, she tilts forward and kisses him, the kiss that she has dreamed about for years, now. The kiss that means that they never have to fight again. She cups his face, treasuring this sensation, and feels whole. She feels him tremble, and she breaks away, for just a moment, opening her eyes to see that beautiful, brilliant smile. There was a time when she couldn’t even imagine what a smile from him might look like, and now she sees, right in front of her, and she knows that this is love. But as quickly as it was given to her, the smile fades, and he collapses backwards. “Ben!” she screams. She reaches out to him with the Force, and now she feels the vacuum, and she realizes what he did for her. She tries to give it back, but he won’t let her, and before she gets the chance he takes what is left of the body, and returns home to the Force.

The sea of Jedi spirits still stand parted, and now amongst them a new member takes his place, Ben Solo. He looks to his left and sees his mother, he smiles at her, so happy that they are finally together again, but she just shakes her head no. He looks to his right and sees his Uncle, Luke, he understands now what happened that fateful night when he was a boy, and finally he can forgive his Uncle. He smiles at Luke, but like Leia, Luke just shakes his head no. Ben doesn’t understand what they are trying to tell him, and he looks ahead. Before him, a young man with short wavy hair and a mischievous grin, wearing the classic robes of a Jedi master walks up to him and takes his hand. “Grandfather?” Ben says, and the spirit nods his head yes. Anakin guides Ben, hand in hand, back through the sea of those who came before, until they are standing beside Rey, a puddle on the hard ground, weeping into the clothes that used to hold Ben’s body. Anakin motions for Ben to lay back down, and he does, returning to the place where his spirit had just left the lifeless husk of his body. Thousands of Jedi spirits standing around them reach out, and while they each have so little left to give, together it is enough, and the well of Force energy that they push back into the spirit of Ben Solo begins to harden and become solid around him.

Rey sits up, startled. She felt something stir beneath his clothes. She looks down at the place where her love used to lay, where his body disappeared into the Force, and sees something she cannot believe. The shirt that had covered his broad chest begins to rise and take shape, so she looks up, slowly, unwilling to trust, she begins to see him, like a ghost at first, but then as something more. He regains color, he becomes solid, he becomes real, and then she hears the first breath as this body comes to life, and she sees his eyes burst open, shining with the energy passed on by all those who passed before. She leans forward and grabs him again, holding him close, and she can’t believe that he came back to her. She leans back slightly, giving herself just enough space to look up at him, then reaches up to touch his face, in awe of what has transpired, overcome with emotion in the most perfectly unJedi-like way possible and then begins kissing him again, his mouth, his cheeks, his forehead, his face, his everything. She kisses him over and over again, joy rising in her that he has returned, that he made it back to her and they are finally together. He returns her kisses, that smile again shining in the half-darkness under the ruins on Exegol, and between the two of them there is peace. 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ben and Rey arrive together, back on Ajan Kloss, as the rest of the Resistance also returns and begin to reunite in celebration. She lands Luke’s old X-Wing slightly off from where most of the ships are in the jungle. Friends and lovers search frantically through the crowd for the ones they want to share this moment with the most, and for Rey, with Ben already by her side, she must find Finn and Poe. She walks forwards into the crowd, holding Ben’s hand as he follows her. 

Suddenly, they see him, the Resistance fighters all see him, and the entire celebration seems to grind to a. Hundreds of Resistance soldiers stop hugging, kissing, and cheering, instead standing to look at the face among them, and Ben senses the first instinct for many is fear, because they recognize this face as the face of Kylo Ren. But as quickly as the fear came to them, it is gone, because Rey is standing there holding his hand, with what she realizes must be a pleading look on her face, and they all know this is not him, for one thing Kylo Ren has never done is taken off his helmet and smile. They look at the face, at this man, standing next to Rey, and they see something else. They see a love, and compassion that is deeply familiar to them, they see Leia in him and they recognize that this… this is Ben Solo. Poe walks to the forefront and approaches him first. He’s stared into those eyes before while being tortured by Ren, but these eyes that stare back at him now, they could never hurt someone that way. Silently, Poe extends his hand, and Ben looks down at the hand raised towards him in friendship. Rey smiles up at Ben, letting his hand go, nods, and Ben grasps Poe’s outstretched hand.. Finn is next, for if Ben good enough for Rey and Poe then he’s good enough for him too. Finn looks at Ben and nods in approval, and that’s all it takes for Rey to be able jump forward, grabbing both of her two closest friends in the world, and hugging them in joy and celebration on a day they thought might never come. After the horrors of Starkiller Base, and the despair of Craitt, today they have finally earned their victory on Exegol, and as they hold onto each other, savoring this special moment, the tears just flow.

That evening they sit around a fire, sharing drinks and dreams of what will come next. Ben sits on the ground with his arms around Rey, as she leans back into a chest that feels like it was made just for this. Across from them Finn sits with his legs out in front of him, as Poe lays on his back with his head in Finn’s lap. Everytime someone mentions a planet or a system they want to visit, Poe has a story about sometime he almost died there, and some friend he owes a favor to that he’ll have to repay now that the war is over. There’s an entire galaxy out there for Ben and Rey, but there’s one place in particular, way out on the outer rim that they know they must visit first.

The next morning, after breakfast, Ben and Rey tell Generals Dameron and Finn that they’re making a trip to take care of one last thing. There’s a lot that needs to be discussed, plans to be made for the new parliamentary government the Resistance is beginning to set up, and both Rey and Ben have their roles to play in this new landscape, but they need to see this one thing through first. Chewbacca helps them fuel up the Falcon and prepare to take off. Sitting side by side in the cockpit, Rey and Ben can’t help but imagine that this is what Han would have wanted. Ben hasn’t been on the Falcon since he was a boy, and even though Rey knows the ship inside and out, he still manages to surprise her when he shows her the secret compartment under the bunk where he used to sleep, where inside lies the medallion, a relic of Alderaan his mother gave him when he was a boy. They make good time to Tatooine, and land just outside Tosche Station, choosing to walk the rest of the way in to the old Lars Moisture Farm. The story of their family is so intricately tied to this world, it feels right to take the time to actually experience the planet, and feel that they are present on it, first. They reach the old farm within an hour, and excitedly, Rey finds a piece of scrapped sheet metal sticking out of the sand. She brushed it off, and grins like a child as she shows Ben how she used to sled down the dunes as a scavenger girl on Jakku. One small painful memory healed. Inside the domicile, they find what used to be Luke’s bedroom, and Rey walks over to the same part of the room where just yesterday, on Ahch-To, Luke showed her where he had hidden Leia’s lightsaber. She kneels down on the floor, and as she places her hand on the lowest brick in the wall, she feels that it is loose from the rest and is able to move it out and find his hiding space. She lays out a piece of orange cloth and places Luke’s lightsaber upon it, Ben reaches into his cloak and pulls out his mother’s saber, kissing it gently and placing it down besides his uncle’s. They ask the Force to keep these sabers safe, until they are needed again, and place them back in the wall, putting the loose brick back where it belongs.

The suns are setting as they climb out from the courtyard, and Ben and Rey take a moment to stand together and enjoy it, imagining that Luke must have stood in this exact place many times before, watching this same stars beneath the horizon of Tatooine. The desert air has a chill to it, and Rey pulls Ben’s cloak around her, drawing herself nearer to him, holding him tight, the novelty of their togetherness a balm on the pain she’s experienced over the last few days. He looks down at her, that smile tugging up the corners of his lips, and feels relief too, that the pain was not for nothing. 

Suddenly, the moment is interrupted, as a very old, white-haired woman on a dewback paces by, presumably on her way to Tosche Station. “It’s been a long time since there’s been anyone in these parts.” she says, staring at them. “What are your names?”

Ben smiles, feeling a patience toward the woman he hasn’t known in ages. “I’m Ben,” he says, reveling in the way it sounds and feels to say those words again.

“And I’m Rey,” Rey says, simply.

“What about your family name?” the old lady asks brusquely, with a lack of manners that only the very young and the very old are capable of getting away with.

Ben and Rey feel a stirring from behind them, and when they look, they can see the ghosts of their family standing in the distance behind them. Ben’s mother Leia, her brother Luke, and behind them both, with his arms lovingly embracing his two children, Ben’s grandfather Anakin. The three smile at the young couple and nod, giving their approval, and so Rey turns back to the old lady and replies, “We’re Skywalkers.”


End file.
